Harmony
by DarkAngei
Summary: Harmony and her siblings run away from their abusive mother, but secrets of the past threaten to destroy the happiness they have found


Chapter 1  
  
Running  
  
The trees were becoming closer together. The forest thickening and closing in the farther along we went. Taking me  
  
farther and farther away from the life I knew, the only life I knew for 16 years. I looked over at my sleeping brother  
  
and sister. Emma all of 12 years old, her golden hair damp and clinging to her forehead, looked so innocent in her  
  
slumber. Jeffrey one year my junior though deep sleep overtook him he was restless, trouble haunting his dreams.  
  
How much like our Mama they looked! Funny how you can love someone so much who looks like someone you  
  
despise. The mere thought of our Mama sent shivers down my spine. I knew Jeffrey was scared but we were doing  
  
the right thing. Looking at Emma and what had almost been destroyed gave me no doubt about that.   
  
But, there were so many doubts. Would they turn us away? Call us white trash and slam the door in our faces? What  
  
if they didn't remember who Mama was? Maybe Mama made the whole thing up all these years and there is no white  
  
mansion behind the trees.   
  
But deep down I knew that not to be true. I had the dollhouse, the beautiful house that was more like a white castle,  
  
behind the trees next to the sea. Mama forbade us from touching it, keeping it hidden away from us where we couldn't  
  
find it. But, I had found it. So many nights as a little girl when she was either passed out or didn't come home I would  
  
steal into her room and ever so carefully take it out of it's hiding place in the closet. I would sit there for hours gazing  
  
at it through the moonlight, imagining that I lived there as a princess. It was the one secret that was mine and now it  
  
was my secret still. I said not a word to Emma or Jeffrey that I had that white castle with me now.   
  
"How far do you think we'll have to walk?" a groggy voice broke me out of daze. "I'm really not sure, it can't be that  
  
far. If it is we can call a taxi" I said to Jeffrey, giving him a reassuring smile.   
  
"You seem pretty sure of everything" he said with what sounded like awe. Sitting up he turned to me and stared at me  
  
for a full moment before adding, "I'm afraid we're going to be sorry for this Harmony" his eyes full of worry.   
  
I tried so hard to keep the emotions out of my own eyes. I couldn't let Jeffrey or Emma know that I was afraid as  
  
much as them. But no matter what fear we felt now it surely had to get better now.   
  
We had lived so many years in fear already. Our fright made up tenfold the concern our Mama lacked. She had never  
  
been concerned with our safety, our health, our love. Sometimes I thought she hoped something would happen to us  
  
so that she would be rid of it. We weren't her children, we were her burden. And now that we were older she saw us  
  
as her mealticket. At least she did with Emma and I. "I don't know why I didn't think of this a long time ago" Mama  
  
said with a vicous gleam in her eyes. "My golden and dark angels" she said putting one arm around Emma, the other  
  
around me. "My beautiful girls are going to make Mama some money now. Oh yes, you'll make us some money  
  
indeed" she said as she stood, beckoning Emma in front of her. "Now Emma" she said, "I want you to get me a hair  
  
brush and come sit down so Mama can make you pretty" Obeying Emma fetched the brush and sat down on the floor.  
  
My heart had begun to thud in my chest, what is Mama talking about? How were we going to be able to make her  
  
money, Emma was only 12! Before I could ask Emma's little voice squeaked out "What do I have to do Mama?"  
  
Little Emma always willing to do anything to get a bit of our Mama's love and approval added, "will it be hard?"   
  
"Oh no, you just have to be real nice to the men. Do everything they say and you'll do just fine" she said as if she were  
  
giving her a pep talk about school. "Mama she's a baby!" I cried out, "you can't do that to her, you can't make her!" I  
  
screamed. Mama turned on me her beady eyes going black as coal. She came at with such force that I thought sure  
  
she would strike me. She didn't. "Can't make her? She's a baby? What do you think I was? I was a baby too until you  
  
children came along and ruined it all for me. Look at me now!" she yelled, her arms spread out to behold her dirty  
  
clothes, her worn body. "I was beautiful once like the two of you, now I'm nothing, nothing, nothing" she screamed.  
  
Spit flying out of the corners of her mouth in every direction. The rage in her eyes unmistakable, they had gone from  
  
black to red, little embers like that of a demon. She looked from Emma to Me who had since run to my side, her  
  
breath rasping furiously as she continued to scream out of control. "You took it all away from me, you owe me! You  
  
did this to me, you did this!" She came at us both, this time she did strike. She swung without aim in any and every  
  
direction she could. Emma cried out in pain as I heard the slap of hard wood from the brush connect with her head.  
  
As Emma fell to the floor holding her head Mama looked at me, disgust all over her face. "Ungrateful brats!" she spat  
  
as she stormed out of the room.   
  
We sat there for a moment until we heard the front door slam. "Jefferey's gonna be mad at me" Emma sobbed. "No no  
  
he isn't Emmy, he won't be mad at you. You didn't do anything wrong baby." I whispered in here ear as I held her.  
  
"Yes, he is because now Mama is going to make him get another job, what if she makes him quit school to work?" her  
  
voice growing more alarmed and panicked by the second. "No, I promise you that won't happen" I vowed.   
  
An hour later Jefferey walked through the door. "What are the suitcases for? Didn't Mama pay the rent? Are we  
  
getting kicked out again?" he said wearily. "Yes, Mama paid the rent. We aren't being kicked out" I calmly said as I  
  
went through all of the hiding spots that I knew Mama stashed money. "Go to your room and pack your things. Take  
  
only what you absolutely need and can carry" I added. I knew he was looking at me in shock but I continued the task  
  
at hand. He stood there in silence for a few moments before asking "what's going on Harmony?" Putting down the tin  
  
I was rummaging through I looked him in the eyes "go pack your things" I repeated, "take any money you have and  
  
don't leave anything sentimental or valuable. We're leaving and we aren't coming back" I told him as Emma walked in  
  
the room, dried blood still on her face, a welt on her temple. Jeffrey looked at Emma then turned to face me. He  
  
looked at me straight in the eyes and said "Ok, give me half an hour."  
  
"Harmony? Did you hear what I said I said I'm afraid we're going to be sorry?" once again Jeffrey's voice brought me  
  
out of my thoughts. Poor Jeffrey with his sandy blonde hair always a tad too long, his clothes always a size too small  
  
or too large. I couldn't remember the last time I didn't see shadows under his deep brown eyes. Ever since he was  
  
fourteen he had been forced to work by our mother. Before then he had always been slim, we all were, never getting  
  
enough to eat. He was still slim but working on the docks loading and unloading for two years had developed him  
  
into a man far before he should have been. All of his clothes stopped fitting him, becoming too small but he wasn't  
  
allowed the luxory of buying himself new ones. His paychecks went directly to Mama. "I don't think I could ever be  
  
sorry to leave what we had there" I said to him, unable to hide my bitterness. 


End file.
